The weather over the past week has been typical for the time of the year, with lots of low cloud and heavy mist/fog overnight, clearing slowly during the mornings. Then weak sunshine until sunset at around 5-30 pm. There’s been hardly any wind, and very few novelties on the bird front. I’ve been out a few times, more due to habit than anything else. One of my favorite occupations at this time of year is colour ring reading. Around here there are two principle species to read rings of, Greater Flamingos and Audouin’s Gulls. My favourite places to do this are San Pedro del Pinatar salinas, Marchamalo Salinas (at the entrance to La Manga) and Rasall Salinas in Calblanque (Mediterranean side, between Los Belones and Cabo de Palos). Although the two latter salinas no longer function, after the recent rains they now hold plenty of water, and at times the abovementioned species are close enough that with a telescope, colour rings can be read.
For that reason, on Monday afternoon (the 19th November) I spent a couple of hours at Calblanque having a general look around, but also with the specific intention of ring reading. The afternoon started very well with a pair of adult Bonelli’s Eagles flying over me as I made my way down there.
The pair of Bonelli's Eagles, male left, female right
Closer view of the female...
... and of the male
Audouin's Gulls on the 'motas' (walls) of the lagoons
A closer view
Black Wheatear keeping a lookout
On Tuesday afternoon (20th November), as it was a warm sunny afternoon, I took a trip down to the Saladares del Guadalentín, the area between Alhama de Murcia, Totana and Mazarron. Here there is a chance of seeing ‘steppe’ species although the area itself can’t be truly considered ‘steppe’. Here there were large numbers of passerines feeding on the fields, including 20+ groups of Skylarks, Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Serins, Crested Larks, Meadow Pipits, and a single Tree Sparrow. I also saw a group of 15+ Lapwing in flight. I thought I’d try to find them later (they were distant when I saw them, flying in the opposite direction to me), but when I tried I couldn’t locate them. I did however find a group of 32 Black Bellied Sandgrouse feeding distantly in a field. Apart from that, birds of interest were a couple of Marsh Harriers, a single Merlin, 3 Hoopoe, a group of 20 Cattle Egrets and a flock of 30+ Stone Curlews in flight, and as I left the area at dusk, a group of 15 Magpies and 5 Jackdaws flying, presumably to roost.
On Thursday afternoon (22nd November), I did a little tour of the Mar Menor starting with the Arenal (sand-dune area) at Los Nietos. I was principally looking for Richard’s Pipits of which I neither saw nor heard. There were however plenty of Meadow Pipits around, and I was lucky enough to see 2 Bluthroats (which winter around the Mar Menor) and a Wryneck in a reedbed. This latter was interesting, as there had been one seen a couple of days earlier just west of Punta Brava (Los Urrutias – the next village along the Mar Menor). Possibly the same bird, or had there been a movement of them – a few do seem to winter along the coastal areas of the Mediterranean, and there are regular reports of them from Calblanque around January/February time. The most impressive sighting of the afternoon though, was the large flock of Cormorants on the Mar Menor (of about 500 birds). They have been seen for several winters now, keeping very much together as a flock and just ‘descending’ on an area. Sometimes they are feeding, but the group I saw this day didn’t seem to be bothering to. The just tipped up just off the beach, stopped there for about 15 minutes, then all got up and moved further along the beach, some of them coming out of the water onto the beach itself. They stayed for a while again, and then moved off into the Mar Menor. Quite an impressive sight.
Part of the Cormorant flock as it arrives...
...close up, sat on the water
The front of the flock...
...the centre...
...and the rear
The flock as it hits another part of the beach
A pair of winter regulars, Southern Grey Shrike...
...and Meadow Pipit
My next stop was the sailing club at Los Urrutias. There was nothing too spectacular here, but I did see a couple of Ringed Plovers and a Greenshank feeding in one of the roadside puddles, and there was a Water Pipit and Reed Bunting flying around. On the Mar Menor was a group of 8 Sandwich Terns and 4 Slender-billed Gulls, which appeared very pink – in fact many of the S.B.Gulls I have seen recently seem to be in their breeding plumage.
Greenshank and Ringed Plover feeding in a roadside puddle
Male Bluethroat
One of the flock of Stone Curlews...
... and two more
On Saturday (24th November) I started the day with a seawatch from Cabo de Palos with Salvador Garcia Barcelona. Salva used to organize the seawatching here many years ago prior to moving down to Malaga province. However, things were very quiet, and after just over an hour we’d only seen a group of 12 Balearic Shearwaters moving north, a single Audouin’s Gulls and around 60 Gannets (of all ages) moving principally north, so we decided to give up.
I went on to Portman bay after this, as I’d been told that there was a lot of water there, and that during the week there’d been a reasonable group of Audouin’s Gulls there. Well, there were around 500 Black Headed Gulls there together with at least 21 Grey Herons and a few Mallard, but they were tucked right at the back of the bay, too distant to see any rings. Out to sea, over the Tuna ‘farm’ was a massive flock of birds, mainly Yellow-legged Gulls but with a good number of Gannets too, and probably other birds, but they were too distant and in the sun too much to be able to thoroughly check.
Flock of mainly Black-headed Gulls tucked in the back of the lagoon behind the beach
Out to sea, the flock of gulls over the Tuna farm
Quite comical when I walked back to my car, were a couple of Water Rails in the reeds close to the car obviously trying to outdo each other in volume. I only saw one very briefly but they were calling almost continuously with those ‘sounds like a pig being butchered’ calls of theirs.
Later in the day I called in once again to Calblanque, checking out the Audouin’s again for rings, and walking along the back of the Salinas (principally to see if I could see or hear any Wrynecks there). No Wrynecks but plenty of mosquitos! Birds that I did see were Goldfinch; Sardinian Warblers; Cattle Egret; Little Owl; White Wagtails; Fan-tailed Warblers; Kestrels; Stonechats; Redshank; Greenshank; Black Redstart; Green Woodpeckers; Greater Flamingo; Greenfinches, Serins; Meadow Pipits; Red-legged Partridge; Crested Larks; Water Pipit; Hoopoes; Songthrushes, Blackbird.
A couple of shots of the Little Owl - one eye orange, the other yellow! Is this normal?
White Wagtail
Finally I called into the Playa Paraiso side of the Marchamalo Salinas. In the Salinas themselves from here I had very little (a single Redshank, Black Winged Stilt, 6 Little Stints and 9 Ringed Plovers), but in the area by the beach there were quite a few passerines flitting about, and I saw a group of about 30 Serins, 12 Spotless Starlings, Blackbird, 2 Black Redstarts, 3 Chiffchaffs, 3 Meadow Pipits, 2 Water Pipits, 2 Reed Buntings, a Robin, a male Bluethroat, 3 Fan-tailed Warblers and I heard a single Cetti’s Warbler.
Male Stonechat at the salinas...
...and another Bluethroat
Record shot of a Wren, hiding as always
Thekla Lark
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